Advanced Seminar Marketing, Strategy, Leadership & Management: Success and failure of co-founding teams

The seminar "Success and failure of co-founding teams " is an interactive learning experience that introduces students to the relevance of a successful team for the success of startups. The different facets of teamwork will be explored from a scientific and practical perspective. In the seminar, measures will be developed to make startup teams successful. In the course of the seminar, the students will deal with one interpersonal factor each, which can influence the success of teams. The students will independently work out the current state of the art on their topic and present it to their fellow students. Together, under the guidance of the lecturers, measures are derived that increase the success of founding teams. In addition, the students learn the basics of scientific work. Students are supported through lectures by professors and invited experts, as well as through interactions with teaching assistants, in both methodological and entrepreneurial topics.

Theory: Students will learn the most important theories and current trends about team processes in the context of startup founders. Topics that will be covered are for example the ideal team size, influences of on creativity, diversity, personality, communication patterns, emotions or negotiation skills. In addition, students learn the key thoughts and content of renowned entrepreneurs, VCs and movers in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. They will learn the fundamental concepts and application areas of communication and interaction research in the context of startups, and learn to understand and present current research in these areas. Practice: Students will gain deep insights into the key interpersonal influences of startup success. They will be enabled to summarize the most important factors influencing interaction on team success in startups and present them for practice. In addition, interactive exercises will complement the theoretical knowledge in the form of practical experience. Methodology: Students will learn from both academics and practitioners about the theory and practice of startup success based on team processes. We work with academic journals, guest lecturers as well as excerpts from recent videos, podcasts, conference submissions from movers and shakers in the startup scene.

The exams consist of a) summarizing and presenting current knowledge on topics of team processes and dynamics b) writing a seminar paper on a given topic in the field of co-founding team success and failure and c) written presentation of scientific knowledge for practitioners. The results of the work should show that the students - have acquired current and relevant academic and practical literature on the topic of team processes in founding teams and are able to present them clearly and precisely - have dealt intensively with the topic of group dynamics and entrepreneurship - are able to process scientific content - have presentation and communication skills that enable them to present their findings on challenging topics, in a clear and structured manner, and to demonstrate the applicability of their findings to practice. The final grade is an average of an individual coursework (40% summary and presentation of scientific studies, 30% seminar paper on a scientific question), and a team assignment (30%, elaboration of the topic for practice).

Fluent in English Interest in the topics of team success, team dynamics, and entrepreneurship from both an academic and practical perspective

Der Kurs besteht aus Vorträgen und von den Studierenden durchgeführten Präsentationen. Die Vorträge werden von Universitäts- und Gastdozierenden gehalten, die führende Expert:innen in den Bereichen Entrepreneurship und Interaktion sind.